Category: Game of Thrones

The new season of Game of Thrones is here. Yes, you should be watching the show. No, you should not start with Season Four. If you haven’t been watching then go watch the first three seasons and then come back here for links to recaps from various TV critics for Season One, Season Two and Season Three.

If you’ve watched the first three seasons then come here for the recaps for Season Four.

Season five of Game of Thrones is going to be a new experience for those of us who have read the books. See, the series has now moved beyond the books in some places. You know those smug, knowing looks we book readers give when you ask us questions? Well, those days are partly over. But there is still so much to enjoy.

I don’t think there’s a moral or a lesson in Game of Thrones but if there is a theme of sorts, other than about the nature of power, it has to do with consequences. Lives can be short in Westeros but memories are long, and sometimes the consequences of your actions aren’t known until many years later.

Even in Westeros, where the gods (at least the Old Gods and the Red God) seem to still have power, all laws are the laws of men. Men will dress the laws up in the words of the gods but that is done only to add legitimacy. Gods don’t make laws. If you live in Westeros you are better off not putting your faith than in gods because it is ultimately men who will judge you.

The showrunners of Game of Thrones have the advantage of finishing the season before any episodes air, an advantage because it insulates them from anything that is being said in-season, which means they don’t feel compelled to react and make changes on the fly. Sometimes, like now, I wonder if it isn’t a disadvantage. After the decision to change a scene in the books of consensual sex between Cersei and Jaime to a rape scene, Game of Thrones has gotten a lot more attention about what happens to women in the series, and the plethora of sexual assaults. I wonder if the showrunners would like a do-over with some of the events of this season, including Cersei’s observation in “First of His Name” that “everywhere in the world, they hurt little girls”.

While there have been isolated moments in the TV series in which I have had no idea what was going on, the last part of “Oathkeeper” wins for most bewildering part of the series for book-readers. Bran and his companions showing up at Craster’s was strange enough and then that was topped by something completely unexpected: showing what happens to babies given to the White Walkers. I’m not sure what to make of all this.

It’s a staple in any series with a large cast but it’s critical in a series like Game of Thrones with the largest cast on television and numerous locations. I’m talking about the use of a bit of dialogue or an image at the end of one scene to comment on or introduce the next. In “Breaker of Chains”, the writers used such a transition to comment on both scenes as well as another scene in the episode, and on a theme in the series as a whole.

As a reader of A Song of Ice and Fire, I am biased when it comes to Game of Thrones. I am biased to like the series and biased in favor of things that are included to amuse the readers but won’t be noticed by people who have only watched the show. And I am biased in favor of George RR Martin, the author of the series who also writes one episode a season. “The Lion and the Rose” was his episode this season and it feels like one of the best.

One of the most famous lines in Game of Thrones (and also from the book series) is Cersei’s “In the game of thrones, you win or you die.” While Cersei’s comments about the possible outcomes proved prophetic not just to Ned Stark but also to his son Robb and to Renly Baratheon, the idea that it is a game is also interesting. It is a very serious game, a complicated game, and a game that demands patience and strategy. An example of the level of patience required is given in “Two Swords” with the introduction of Oberyn Martell.